Perfect
by Tigereye77
Summary: The hunt for a serial killer obsessed with creating the "perfect" woman forces the BAU and NCIS to work together. However, while the surface may look perfect, one never knows what lies underneath. Sequel to "A Rose By Any Other Name", the second story in my NCIS/CM trilogy.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, I could say it's the long awaited sequel to _A Rose By Any Other Name_, but I don't know how many folks were actually waiting for it. It is the sequel though! I finally figured out a few storyline issues that I have been wrestling with. For those who don't know and wonder what is going on, you don't have to read _A Rose By Any Other Name_, but it wouldn't hurt. This is my Criminal Minds/NCIS cross-over universe. _Rose _took place right after "Demonology" for CM and is in the middle of Season 7 for NCIS, Ziva is back with the team but before the Pedro Hernandez issue took up a lot of their attention. In _Rose_, Emily consulted with NCIS and created a bond with that team, especially Gibbs. There was some interaction between Gibbs and Hotch with neither man coming away with a favorable impression of the other. This story takes place in Season 5 of Criminal Minds after Foyet (so yes, Haley is dead and Hotch is a single father) but the NCIS time track is about the same in that the Pedro Hernandez issue hasn't become an issue, i.e., Abby knows nothing about Gibbs involvement with Hernandez. This is a much darker story than _Rose_, so be prepared for that. Now, on with the show!**

* * *

"_The perfect woman is a higher type of human than the perfect man, and also something much more rare."_

_Friedrich Nietzsche_

* * *

It was a cold night that the lack of moon and starlight seemed to make all the chillier. It was a night where even the regular nocturnal scavengers decided to remain in their hidden nests and dens. The cold seemed to have frozen the city in a dark crystal, the city holding its breath waiting for something to occur. And when there was movement, a flicker, it shattered the brittle stillness of the winter air into many shards of cutting glass.

Had anyone or thing been around to see it, they would not have been able to discern if it was a man or a woman or to the more fanciful, if the dark figure was even human. It was an indistinct blob that appeared to have a large humped back and a strange gait. The shadow moved awkwardly, a labored walk as it shuffled towards the dense vegetation that lined the pathway. It paused and then with a soft grunt, it unburdened itself of the object on its shoulder. The dark blanket unfurled and a startling flash of white appeared from within the woolen folds. Leaves and small twigs crackled as the white object tumbled over several times before settling into a nest of vines and low bushes at the bottom of the slope it had just rolled down.

The shadow observed its work for a moment and then, moving much more freely than it had a minute before, melted back into the cold dark.

The night was still once more.

* * *

The older man carried himself like a former military man. Officer Kelsie Malone could see the gray hair peeking out from his dark cap that had the words NCIS emblazoned across it. The younger NCIS agents followed in this man's wake, practically trotting to keep pace with his fast walk. She knew who he was. She had heard some of the other cops at the station talking about him though she had never met him before. The description was generally, "Gibbs can be an asshole, but he's a straight shooter."

She straightened her back, unconsciously tugging on her jacket to make sure it looked neat. Stepping forward, she nodded at Agent Gibbs as he paused before her.

"Gibbs, NCIS," he snapped out in a crisp voice.

Malone nodded. "Agent Gibbs, I'm Officer Malone. I'm the one who called it in. If you would follow me."

"What have we got?" Gibbs asked as he walked beside the tall, lanky officer. His sharp eyes glanced around their surroundings. They were in Rock Creek Park on a cold winter morning. It was the type of chill that went through all the layers of clothing you had on to pierce your skin and settle deep into your bones. Gibbs, however, seemed impervious to the elements, moving as he always did with his brisk stride. Neither sleet nor rain nor snow, mere weather did not deter or slow Leroy Jethro Gibbs. It wouldn't dare.

"What makes you think this is a NCIS case?" Gibbs asked Malone as he peered down the embankment. He could just make out the body below.

"The victim is female, between the ages of 30 to 40. Tall, thin and brunette. She was only partially clothed, but what clothing she was wearing was part of a Navy uniform." Malone pointed to one side where part of the foliage was obviously broken and trampled upon. "A man was walking his dog this morning. Dog got away from him and ran into those bushes and found…" She gestured down the small slope off the side of the path.

He couldn't see her face. The body was face down but he could make out her general shape and coloring. The slender body, the pale skin and the dark hair struck a familiar chord with Gibbs. The woman's general appearance reminded him of Emily Prentiss.

Since the FBI profiler worked with him on a case, the two had become quite good friends. Gibbs knew she had also become close in varying degrees with the members of his team. Abby and Ducky adored Emily and he knew the feelings were returned. She wasn't as close with the agents on his team, but he knew she had had drinks with Ziva a few times, gone to the movies with DiNozzo and had attended several book fairs with McGee.

Gibbs himself had made it a point to try to have dinner with Emily at least once a month, sometimes more frequently. He had helped her out with a few minor home repairs, especially when she moved into her new apartment. For her birthday he had built her a small table for a corner in her living room when she complained about not being able to find anything suitable.

Yes, he and Emily Prentiss had become close. He wasn't sure why, but he had been drawn to the woman when he first met her and found herself to possess a warmth, a compassion and a sensitivity rarely found in the violent profession she had chosen. When he told her he considered her family, he had meant it and he had kept her close like he did all his family members, maybe even closer. While she had proven herself a capable, strong agent, Gibbs just couldn't shake the feeling that there were times his powerful Emily could very vulnerable and fragile.

Gibbs shook his head. This woman obviously wasn't Emily. But just like he couldn't help but sometimes see bits of Kelly in little girls or Shannon in redheads, he sometimes saw Emily in victims who bore a passing resemblance to her. It might be because it was her job to hunt down the monsters who would do such things and a part of Gibbs worried that one day, a monster might catch her.

"DiNozzo, McGee! With me. Ziva! Talk to the dog walker!" Gibbs didn't bother to see if his orders would be followed, so well trained were his team. Carefully, he made his way down the slope, taking an alternative path to avoid disturbing any potential evidence. He made his way to the body and knelt down. A moment later, McGee and DiNozzo joined him.

"DiNozzo, photos." A voice from the path above called out and Gibbs looked up. Dr. Donald Mallard and his assistant, Jimmy Palmer waved at him. With a head tilt, Gibbs indicated the path they should take to get down to the body. A minute later, the Medical Examiner and young man were with the NCIS men.

"Good morning, gentlemen," Ducky murmured as he knelt down beside the body.

"Nothing good about this," Gibbs responded in a grim tone.

"No. You're completely right. There's nothing good about this situation," Ducky agreed. He took the liver thermometer Palmer handed him and took his reading. After his initial examination he nodded at McGee. "Go ahead, Timothy. Use that fingerprint identifier gadget of yours."

The young agent knelt down and gently picked up one of the victim's hands. He took her index finger and held it to the screen of a small device he pulled from his jacket pocket. The machine beep quietly, acknowledging that it had taken a successful scan of her fingerprint and began to run through the entire database of active and inactive military personnel.

DiNozzo continued to snap photos. Ducky and Palmer examined the body. Gibbs examined their surroundings, looking for any clue the killer might have left. McGee's device let out a definitive beep indicating a match had been found.

"Commander Laura Hill," McGee reported. "She was assigned to the State Department."

"Gibbs!"

All the men's head snapped to look up at the path where Ziva had called out the team leader's name. She stood there, clearly blocking two men's way. One was a muscular African American man. His companion was taller, but thin and gangly. The thin man looked no older than a college student and he looked like one with a messenger bag slung across his body.

Gibbs frowned, the men stirring a feeling of familiarity within him. Gibbs rose from his crouched position and made his way back up to the path where Ziva glared at the two newcomers, refusing to move at all.

"Who are you?" Gibbs barked out.

"Derek Morgan and Spencer Reid, FBI, Behavioral Analysis Unit," the dark skin man replied.

Morgan and Reid. Emily's teammates. Now he knew why they looked familiar. He had seen photos of both men in Emily's apartment.

"What's the BAU's interest in our case?"

"Our case," Morgan replied stiffly. "She's a victim of a serial killer we've been chasing. Metro was supposed to call us, but it looks like someone screwed up."

Gibbs glanced over at Malone who blushed and ducked her head. She had jumped the gun. She saw the Naval uniform dress shirt and immediately called it in as an NCIS case. She wasn't even aware that Metro had been working with the BAU. The communication in the department wasn't always the greatest.

"Just tell us what you have so far and we'll take it from here," Morgan continued.

Even on a good day Gibbs didn't like giving up a case to anyone when it involved military personnel. Handing over a case that he felt was already his was not in his DNA to do. His heels digging in, Gibbs gestured towards where Ducky was still examining the body. "My Medical Examiner, my case."

Morgan bristled. "Did you not hear me? This is already our case."

"How do you know it's the same killer?" Ziva interrupted.

"Female, in her 30s or 40s. Slender and brunette." Morgan recited.

"Your Medical Examine will probably discover that several holes have been drilled into her skull," Reid piped in. "We think the unsub was attempting to give her a lobotomy. There'll also be signs of repeated sexual assault."

Ziva made a sound that was between disgust and anger and came out in a feral growl. Gibbs had an equally disgusted look on his face, but it was marked with determination. If there was some animal out there doing this to women, he wasn't going to stand by and do nothing.

Morgan was getting frustrated. He knew exactly who this man was. He recognized Gibbs from the video conference they had last year when Emily was consulting with NCIS. He knew Prentiss had become good friends with the NCIS agents but the rest of the BAU had no reasons to interact with that particular agency. Until now.

"That is a Navy officer down there," Gibbs bit out sharply. "Which means she's one of mine. You can run your own investigation, but Commander Hill is our case."

Morgan's mouth opened, but before he could say anything, Gibbs had spun on his heel and walked away. Ziva smirked at the two men, continuing to block their path. For a moment, Derek considered simply walking through her, but a lifetime of training and lectures by his mother and an extended brigade of aunties taught him to show more respect for women. Besides, he couldn't risk tarnishing the BAU's reputation by engaging in a scuffle with another agency's officers at a crime scene. He would need to call out the bigger guns. He gestured for Reid to follow him.

"Are we just leaving?" the younger man asked his colleague as they walked back to their Yukon.

"No. I'm just calling in reinforcements." Morgan pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. After a few rings it was answered. "Hotch? We've got a problem."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I want to say that I am humbled by all the kind comments I've received so far on this story. I truly am flabbergasted that so many folks have taken the time to read this story. I hope you do enjoy the rest. The pressure is on! Thank you all again!**

* * *

Emily Prentiss hurried into the warm police station out of the bitter cold of the DC morning. For a brief moment, she felt caught between two climates as the heat made the cold skin on her face tingle as blood began to circulate again, but the bitter chill penetrated through her clothes to rake icy fingers against her spine. Abruptly, the cold disappeared as Rossi let the door close behind him.

"Who knew just walking a couple of hundred feet from the car could turn you into an iceberg," Rossi said through chattering teeth as he rubbed his arms, trying to warm up quickly.

"It didn't help that the heater gave out in the car," Emily shivered. She sneezed quietly. She rolled her shoulders slightly, the ache in her body that she woke up with yesterday was much worse today, but she wasn't about to let Rossi know about it. "What a bust this morning was." They had been following up a lead that lead to nothing.

"We don't seem to be getting anywhere on this one," Rossi groused as he began to strip off his gloves and scarf.

A week ago, they had been called in to investigate a series of murders that had taken place in the tri-state area of Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland. Due to the multiple states the bodies had been found in, the Bureau was given jurisdiction and the Director wanted the best team on the case which, despite recent events, was still Aaron Hotchner's team.

There was great pressure to solve the case and many doubted Hotch's abilities so soon after the death of his ex-wife. The victims had been tall, slender brunettes in their 30s or 40s. Emily bore a passing physical resemblance to the women, but there was something else that she had in common with the victims. They were all women who came from prominent families and who themselves were successful in their own professions. One was a well-known environmental attorney, another an investment banker and one victim was the CFO of a Fortune 500 company. Combined with their familial ties, the calls to capture the monster killing these women were great.

Not that they were getting any special treatment from Hotchner. He would have pursued this Unsub with the same zeal and determination if the victims had been prostitutes or homeless women. The horrific torture the women had suffered only spurred him to greater efforts. The victims were found with several holes drilled into their skulls in a crude attempt at performing a lobotomy. The women had suffered repeated sexual assaults. The theory was the Unsub was trying to create a docile woman, that he deliberately targeted these powerful women in order to make them into to obedient, sexual servants. When he tired of them, he would strangle them and dump their bodies in various locations.

As grotesque as the crimes had been, their depraved killer was also a smart one. Very little forensic evidence had been found and aside from the generalities of looks and background, there was little to connect the victims together. The BAU team had been having no luck so far and the lack of progress was frustrating everyone.

"Maybe Hotch has something," Emily said as she nodded towards their team leader. They could see him through the glass that surrounded the room they had been given to use as their command center. Both agents could clearly see Hotch talking animatedly and grimly on the phone.

"Doesn't look like its good news," Rossi observed.

"It doesn't ever seem to be these days," was Emily's soft response. When Foyet was loose and Jack and Haley were in hiding, she knew Hotch missed them both, especially his son. However, he wasn't always grim. Maybe it was his determination to catch Foyet that drove him, but there was still a spark of something within the man. But with Haley's death, that spark was gone. All that was left was just a drive to catch the monsters they chased. Any softness, any light that remained in Aaron Hotchner was saved for his son. All they and anyone else saw was just this avenging warrior who stopped at nothing, and felt nothing.

"Whoever he's talking to is getting Aaron pretty worked up," the other agent commented. "Which is my cue to go look for some coffee." Emily agreed and the two were about to move off when Hotch suddenly flung open the door to the office he was in and he barked out,

"Prentiss! You're with me!" He strode past them while putting on his black overcoat and flung open the door to the station with a loud bang.

Emily looked at Rossi in dismay. He returned the look with a sympathetic one of his own. She sighed and rebuttoned her coat as she hurried out of the stationhouse and back into the cold.

She practically sprinted over to the SUV that she and Rossi had parked minutes ago. Hotch had already started it up and she could see through the windshield that he was waiting impatiently for her, his fingers tapping the steering wheel. Emily slid into the passenger seat and had barely closed the door before Hotch peeled out of the parking lot on squealing tires.

Emily looked over at Hotch in alarm. He never drove this aggressively unless there was some urgent reason. "What happened?" she asked, concern written over her face. "Where are we going?"

"After you and Rossi left this morning, another victim was found in Rock Creek Park. It appears she was dumped sometime last night."

Emily closed her eyes. With each new victim they felt a sense of failure and a growing helplessness. She let out a small sigh.

Hotch continued, ignoring his companion's small sign of distress. "Reid and Morgan are already there."

Emily looked at him with an arched eyebrow. With one team already dispatched, it was unusual for Hotch to send anyone else. "Did they find something new?"

"I don't know," Hotch snapped out.

She was taken aback by his tone. While Hotch had pulled back from the team considerably since Haley's death, he never displayed any anger or rudeness to them but he seemed angry or rather angry with her. Emily racked her brain for something she might have done to upset him. But even if she had, that didn't explain why they were going to a crime scene while a team was already there or why Hotch had no idea what was going on with the new victim.

"I don't understand," she decided was the best way to respond.

Hotch glanced at her with his sunglass covered eyes for a long moment before he returned his attention back to the road. "The reason Morgan and Reid have not been able to find anything out is because they haven't been able to do anything is because another agency has taken control of the crime scene."

She blinked at him in surprise. "Another agency? What other agency would be investigating a murder?"

Hotch turned back towards her to give her another hard stare. "NCIS, or more specifically, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

Her lips parted slightly in surprise as she gave him a wide-eyed gaze. No sound came out but one word echoed loudly in her head,

_Crap._

* * *

Ominous clouds had gathered in the sky by the time Hotch and Emily arrived at Rock Creek Park. Hotch parked and got out of the car quickly. He strode forward with long strides, not caring if Emily was following him. He was too angry that Gibbs was interfering with his investigation and irrationally, some of that anger was directed at Emily merely because she was friends with the man who was proving to be such an obstacle to him.

Morgan and Reid were standing just outside the yellow crime scene tape where a lone female NCIS agent was watching them carefully, making sure they didn't breach the perimeter.

"Morgan!" Hotch cried out sharply. "What's going on?"

"At this point we don't know, Hotch," Morgan replied. He threw Ziva David an annoyed look. "We haven't even been allowed near the body."

"I have orders to make certain the crime scene is not contaminated," Ziva responded as she folded her arms over her chest.

Hotch's brown darkened dangerously. He stepped closer to the petite woman who merely stared back at him with a bored look. "Listen here agent, NCIS is interfering with an ongoing FBI investigation. You are to stand aside right now."

"My orders are to make sure the crime scene remains secure," Ziva said in a crisp tone. "That means you do not cross this line."

"Ziva?" Emily came hurrying up.

"Emily, Shalom," the Israeli woman said in a warmer tone than she had been using with Emily's male teammates. She turned a grin to Hotch. "I am still not letting you through."

Just as the day had darkened considerably as the minutes ticked by, so had Hotch's temper. "I can have you and the rest of your team brought up on charges for deliberately hindering a federal investigation," snarled out.

"Might be kinda hard since you don't know if it is a part of your investigation," Gibbs said as he came up to the group. "Hotchner."

"Gibbs," Aaron ground out. He turned to Morgan. "Morgan? Reid?"

"We uh, never got close to the body so we can't confirm if it is the work of the same killer," Reid replied in a sheepish tone.

Gibbs' smirk nearly sent Hotch into an apoplectic fit.

"Gibbs," Emily said in a weary voice. "Come on, it won't hurt to let us to look at the body." She knew Hotch and the NCIS agent did not like each other. She knew it was partially due to her. Both were alpha males to the extreme, but Gibbs had gotten it into his mind that Hotch was an unworthy team leader. As the FBI man's subordinate, Emily, in Gibbs' mind, had to suffer the other man's ineffective leadership. She wasn't certain where Gibbs got such an idea. When she first met Jethro it had been a rocky time between herself and Hotch, but she had never given any indication that the other man's abilities as an agent and team leader should be questioned. Gibbs simply didn't like Hotch.

Gibbs' cold eyes immediately softened when he took in Emily's appearance. She looked tired and cold. His usual annoyance with Hotchner's existence went up a notch. She looked like she was freezing and sick, yet the dumbass dragged her out into this miserable weather.

"Emily, you look cold," Gibbs stepped over to the brunette and looked over her face in concern. Her eyes were red-rimmed with dark circles underneath. She shouldn't be out in this freeing weather. He shot an accusatory glare at Hotch who bristled immediately.

"Agent Prentiss is fine and doing her job," Hotch's voice was as cold as the air that bit sharply at them.

Emily flushed in embarrassment and hastily interjected. "I'm fine, really. But getting back to the case, Gibbs, come on, it's highly likely this victim was killed by the killer we've been chasing for over a week."

"Over a week?" Gibbs' voice scaled up and Emily winced internally, realizing the mistake she had made. "You guys haven't found this killer yet?" Gibbs believed if fast results and resolutions. If Hotch was unable to figure out the case after more than a week working on it, then it might be better if someone else took over. So sayeth Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Hotch's eyes narrowed at the obvious criticism behind Gibbs' question. "Our unsub has left very little evidence. That's why it's important for us to examine this victim."

"Her name is Commander Laura Hill," Gibbs growled out. "She was an officer in the United States Navy. Her case is mine." He ducked under the tape and began to walk away. He called out over his shoulder. "We'll let you know if we find anything."

Hotch glared after Gibbs' retreating back. His glare was then turned on Emily who was looking after Gibbs with a distressed look on her face. She looked at her supervisor and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Hotch, but I'm not going to get him to budge on this one. Only his boss will make Gibbs change his mind and even then I suspect he'll find a way around it."

"We'll see about that," Hotch replied as he pulled out his cell phone to inform his Director of the recent developments.

* * *

"Well, you've pissed off the Bureau. Again."

Gibbs merely looked at Director Vance and replied, "Commander Hill was a Naval officer and her murder falls under our jurisdiction. They have no proof she's a victim of the killer they've failed to find after almost a week on the job."

"That's because you wouldn't allow them to examine the body to see if it was the same killer." Vance seemed more amused than upset. He leaned back in his chair. "I hear Emily Prentiss' team is the group involved."

Gibbs grunted.

"You and her boss aren't exactly friends, I understand."

"Don't know much about Hotchner," was Gibbs' only reply.

"But you've decided you don't like the man." It wasn't a question.

"Doesn't matter what I think about the man." Gibbs shrugged.

"Oh, it might," Leon Vance said with a smirk that boded no good for the NCIS agent.

Gibbs' eyes narrowed as Vance buzzed his secretary and said, "Send him in."

A few seconds later, Aaron Hotchner walked through the door. He glanced at Gibbs, but dismissed him with a curt, "Gibbs."

"Hotchner."

Aaron turned his attention to Director Vance who was rising from his chair. "Director Vance," the FBI agent greeted as he held out his hand.

"Agent Hotchner. I've heard good things about your work. I also had the pleasure of having Emily Prentiss working with Agent Gibbs' team a few months ago. Exceptional agent."

Hotch acknowledged the compliment with an inclination of his head.

"Actually, that collaboration worked so well, I was able to convince your Director to allow you and Agent Gibbs to work together on this case."

"What?" both agents asked simultaneously.

Vance smiled. "You see, Commander Hill was the daughter of Admiral Warren Hill, a good friend of the Secretary of the Navy. Director Bernard at the Bureau couldn't very well refuse SecNav's request to have Gibbs run point on Commander Hill's case. I'm sure two such esteemed agent will have this case solved in no time. Afterall, you two represent the best of your respective agencies." Vance sat back down in his chair, the smirk wider than before.

A muscle worked in Hotch's jaw, but what could he say? What could he do? This was an order from his Director and the Secretary of the Navy. He looked over to Gibbs and could see the other man was just as displeased by these developments.

Hotch smothered a sigh. Against both their wishes, it appeared as though they would need to work together on what was already turning out to be a difficult case. Somehow, Hotch knew having Gibbs and his team on it as well wasn't going to make things easier.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So here's the scoop. I apologize for not updating stories at a faster rate but work has been insane. Really insane. So these updates are going to be a little slow and I'm very sorry about that, but as it is, work is leeching over into my spare time. So I'm just sneaking in a few minutes here and there to write. But I will keep updating. Just slowly. Also, the nomination ballot is up for the 2012 Profilers' Choice awards. The link is: www. fanfiction topic / 74868/ 69379386/1/. Just take out all the spaces, but if that doesn't work for you, just go to the Criminal Minds Forums and go to "Chit Chat on Authors' Forum". There are a lot of talented authors out there with great stories so show your appreciation for these folks and nominate them! Now on with our story!**

* * *

"Hotch didn't say why he wanted us all at NCIS HQ?" Morgan asked Rossi as he and the rest of the team rode the elevator up.

The older man shrugged. The BAU leader had called him to gather the entire team, sans Garcia who was still back at Quantico, and meet him at the Naval Yard. "He just asked us to pack up all we had on the case and bring it over."

Morgan snorted. "_That_, does not sound good for us. We probably have to hand over the entire case to those Navy yahoos."

"Morgan!" Emily barked in a sharp tone. "They are not 'yahoos'. Gibbs and his team are experienced investigators with a stellar record."

"Look, Prentiss, just because you got along with them on one case, a case where _you_ were the guest, doesn't mean they're capable of handling something like this one," Derek shot back. "They're all bluster and brawn, guys," said the man who was considered and definitely looked like the brawn of their team. JJ, Emily and Reid rolled their eyes at this. Morgan saw it. "I'm serious! I swear that NCIS woman was going to put me in a headlock!"

"Which you probably would have enjoyed," Reid piped up. "And she only got really angry at you when you thought you could flirt your way onto the crime scene."

"Morgan, you didn't," Emily sighed.

"Sure he did," Reid chortled. "'Help out a fellow agent here, beautiful lady.'"

JJ made a gagging noise and Emily sighed again. "Morgan, you shouldn't have done that with Ziva. She's not going to fall for that type of stuff and would consider it insulting. You're lucky she didn't shoot you."

"Well, we can't all be NCIS' _darlings_ who get lingerie as presents," Morgan sniped back.

"That's enough!" Rossi barked out as Emily flushed angrily. He turned to glare at the other occupants in the elevator. "I don't know why we're here or why we're bringing all of our materials on the case, but I do know that we are _not_ going to embarrass ourselves, Hotch or the Bureau by this childish behavior. Morgan, keep it zipped and for once I don't mean your pants."

His speech ended just as the elevator dinged the doors opened up. They stepped out of the elevator and with Emily leading the way, walked towards the center of the large room they found themselves in to where a small group of desks were gathered directly under the skylight. They paused a moment as the three NCIS agents squabbled back and forth.

"Tony!" Ziva called out for the fourth time, her voice getting progressively louder and more exasperated. "If you do not get moving, I would hate to see Gibbs' reaction when he finds out you have done nothing on getting more information on this case."

"Yeah," McGee chimed in as his hands flew over his keyboard as he furiously gathered financial, phone and whatever electronic records he could find on Commander Hill. "You know he's never in a good mood after a meeting in Vance's office. And add Agent Hotchner to that mix…"

"And that is the difference between me and you probies," Tony replied in a bored tone from his reclined position. He was sitting as far back in his desk chair as it would allow, his eyes closed and feet propped upon his desk. "When you become a senior, very special agent like myself, you learn how to get the most vital information as quickly as possible. The wheat instead of the chaff, the milk instead of the curds-"

"The bull instead of the shi-," Ziva began to say.

"Emily!" McGee called out in surprise. He stood up and greeted the pretty brunette who was leading a group of other people towards th em, some the NCIS agent recognized.

Ziva and Tony stood and turned around to see Emily and the rest of her BAU team coming towards them.

"Hello," Prentiss greeted the NCIS agents. She made introductions. "Agents Rossi, Morgan, Jareau and Reid, meet Agents DiNozzo, David and McGee, members of Agent Gibbs' team."

"We've met," Morgan muttered as he looked at Ziva from lowered brows.

Ziva bared her teeth at him in a facsimile of a smile. The FBI agent had tried to flirt with her to get onto the crime scene. She hated when men tried to do that. It was insulting, although sometimes amusing.

"Dave Rossi?" McGee asked as he came forward to shake the older profiler's hand. "The author?"

"That's me," Rossi replied.

"Wow, I really admire your work," McGee gushed. "You know, I'm a writer too and I've had a book published. Just a work of fiction though. It was pretty popular. _Deep Six_. I wrote it under the pseudonym Thom E. Gemcity."

"Never heard of it, kid, but I don't read a lot of fiction," Rossi replied.

"So, Em, are you here to pick up what remains of Agent Hotchner after Gibbs gets through with him?" Tony joked as he came forward to give the woman a hug.

"Tony…" Prentiss sighed.

"Hotch can take on anyone," JJ replied stoutly, taking an instant dislike to the three NCIS agents. Morgan was right. They were brash and arrogant.

"JJ," Emily began.

"Huh, you obviously don't know Gibbs," Ziva huffed out.

"But we know Hotch," Reid piped up.

"Mr. Got A Bug Building Condos Up His Butt?" Tony chortled. The BAU team were not amused by the description, albeit fairly accurate one, of their boss. Though Rossi's lips did twitch slightly. "Trust me, he doesn't stand a chance against Gibbs. The man eats bureaucrats for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Occasionally, he'll snack on one for lunch or gnaw on a bone now and then. He might be a functioning mute, but that quietness might be due to the mouthful of bureaucrat he's usually chewing on." His grin started to fade when he saw everyone staring over his shoulder. "He's behind me, isn't he?"

"Surprised you didn't hear me crunching on someone's bones, DiNozzo," Gibbs' cold voice floated over Tony's head.

Standing on the landing that just overlooked the bullpen Gibbs and Hotch were looking down at the two teams gathered below. The older man spun on his heel and swiftly went down the remaining stairs and walked between the gathered groups, splitting them much like Moses parting the Red Sea. In his hand was a cup of hot tea, the steam visible to everyone and the tag from the teabag bouncing with every step he took. His team members looked at each other with raised eyebrows. What was Gibbs, whose blood was actually black coffee, doing with a cup of tea?

"Hotch, what's going on?" Rossi asked as the BAU team leader trailed after Gibbs.

"We will be running a joint investigation with NCIS," Hotch said in a tight voice.

"Boss?" Tony queried.

"Yeah, that's what's going on. It came from Sec Nav," Gibbs grumbled out.

"Have introductions been made?" Hotch asked, looking at Emily since she was the common denominator between the two teams. When she nodded her head, Hotch turned to Gibbs. "I'll contact our tech analyst to send over all the electronic information we have on the previous murders."

"Send it to McGee. I want to know what _we_ have on Laura Hill," Gibbs said. "Report!"

The BAU members watched as the three NCIS agents immediately snapped to attention and stumbled over each other to report their findings much like eager puppies falling over themselves.

"Laura Hill was a Commander in the US Navy," Ziva began. "She has never been married. Her parents live in San Francisco. She was an outstanding officer. Her current position at the State Department has her acting as a liaison with the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and the Intelligence Department within State."

"Boss, Commander Hill's phone and financial records show no unusual activity," McGee reported. "Except for calls to a cell phone number I'm still trying to trace."

"So you're telling me you have nothing," Gibbs griped. He looked around. "Does anyone have anything useful to add?"

"I guess it's up to me again," Tony sighed in a much put upon voice. He picked up a piece of paper. "Watch and learn probies…" he also turned to say over his shoulder to the assemble FBI agents, "and assembled guests." Only Rossi and Emily didn't roll their eyes. Tony cleared his throat. "Friends and colleagues have said Commander Hill was a good worker who kept to herself and was focused on her career. However, over the last few weeks they started to suspect she might be seeing someone on the down low. One friend believes it might be a diplomatic attaché with the Italian Embassy that she had worked with on a project a few months ago."

"Why keep her dating quiet?" JJ asked.

"If she was a private person, it simply could have been her wanting to keep her private affairs that, private," Rossi replied.

"Huh, I can understand not wanting your nosy co-workers to know everything about your business," Ziva huffed out with a pointed look at Tony.

"Boss, if it's someone with the Italian Embassy, it might be why I'm having trouble tracing the cell phone num ber!" McGee explained.

"Back off McLateComer," Tony snarled at the younger agent, offended he was trying to horn into his moment in the spotlight. He paused. "It would be harder to trace a diplomatic attache's cell phone number, boss."

"Yeah think, DiNozzo?" Gibbs growled out. "What else you got?"

"Boss, I got us a lead, a mysterious boyfriend," Tony began.

"Yeah, that's all you've got, a no name, maybe boyfriend," Gibbs replied. "I want a name. Now!" The NCIS agents scattered back to their desks to try to find out more about Commander Hill and Gibbs turned on his heel and began to leave when Hotch's voice cut through the room like a whip.

"Agent Gibbs!"

Gibbs sighed a martyred sigh and turned around to look at the FBI agents who still stood there, holding their boxes of materials, waiting to be shown where they could sit. Irritation flared up inside of Gibbs. Six people. Hotchner traveled with a damn city. How could Gibbs conduct an investigation if he had to trip over so many people?

"We should set up and brief your team on the previous murders," Hotch continued.

"Yeah, we'll why you guys set up, my people and I are going to find out all we can about the _current_ murder. Evidence sometimes has a way of deteriorating and leads disappearing with time so we need to get moving. It's what investigators do."

Hotch stiffened at the implication. While it was true that the BAU typically became involved after the fact and had nowhere near the forensic training as Gibbs and his team, it didn't mean they were novices. "I understand that, but unless you want us to set up here," Hotch eyed Gibbs desk, "With that as our main landing point, I suggest you find us a small room."

"Emily," Gibbs turned to the brunette. "Can you show them the room you were in last time? You can use that."

Hotch's eyes narrowed at this. While it wasn't an order, he didn't like Gibbs making any demands on his people, especially Prentiss who might find her loyalties divided on this case. Hotch would not tolerate any of that.

"Uh, sure," Emily replied, noticing the tension in the room had just suddenly elevated.

"There, you have your room," Gibbs growled out. "I'm going to autopsy to see what Ducky has found out."

"Agent Rossi and I will come with you," Hotch replied coolly. He turned to his team. "The rest of you get set up and we'll give Agent Gibbs and his team a briefing." He turned to Gibbs with a wolfish smile. "Our briefing might take a little longer since we have more information to share."

Hotch's dig at the NCIS' team's lack of details on Commander Hill's case did not go unnoticed. Gibbs returned the younger man's smile with an equally lethal one of his own. "Look forward to hearing it, especially since you haven't caught the killer yet."

Hotch flushed darkly and his eyes burned with anger. Emily darted suddenly between the two men. "I do have to say that Ducky is one of the best ME's I've ever worked with so if there's anything to be discovered on Commander Hill's body, he would be the one to find it. I'm sure he's waiting for you now."

Gibbs and Hotch continued to glare at each other, but the former Marine nodded his head sharply. He handed the cup of tea he had been holding all this time over to Emily. "Drink. You sound a little raspy. That should be cool enough now." Without another word, he turned on his heel and walked off.

Hotch and Rossi followed him, the BAU leader giving Prentiss an inscrutable look as he passed while Rossi merely smiled at her and raised an eyebrow. Emily simply sighed and shook her head. She took a sip of the hot tea that had been laced liberally with honey and felt it soothe her aching throat. She hadn't said anything but as the day wore on, she was feeling progressively worse.

"Oh boy, the boss' favorite is back," Tony teased, but there was no malice in his tone. "You know, Em, this just means when Gibbs is in a cranky mood, we're sending you in. Oh, wait, he's always in a cranky mood! Guess that means we'll leave to deal with him all the time."

Ziva and McGee chuckled and Emily even smiled. However, her smile faded when she saw the looks on her team members' faces. They wore expressions of surprise mingled with disapproval. She walked over to them and said, "Come on, I'll show you the conference room."

Silently they followed her further into NCIS' offices until they found themselves in a fairly comfortable room that had a large window, a conference table, a white board and several well worn chairs. Silently they worked, unpacking their boxes and setting up their materials for the briefing they would be giving. Occasionally, one of the others would give Emily a sidelong glance, but she studiously ignored them. Finally, Morgan couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"Okay, just what is going on between you and Gibbs, Prentiss?"

Surprised by this sudden outburst she turned around to gape at him. "Pardon?"

"Em, Gibbs is not the kind of guy who just suddenly brings you tea without you asking for it," JJ replied. She looked curiously at her friend. "What is going on between you two?"

"We're friends and beyond telling you that, it's none of your business," Emily replied in a cool and irritated tone.

"It is if it interferes with our work," Morgan replied in a dark tone.

"What are you talking about?"

"We need to know where your loyalties lie, Prentiss," Morgan continued. "Us or NCIS."

She gaped at her partner and then turned her attention to Reid and JJ. While both of the younger agents looked uncomfortable, they too appeared to be siding with Derek.

"I don't believe you guys!" she hissed out. "First off this is a freaking _murder_ investigation that we're all trying to solve! There are no sides except finding the bastard and putting him away! Second, I will not stand for anyone questioning my integrity in any way!" With that she stomped out of the room leaving three very ashamed agents in her wake.

Emily stalked down the hallway, not really paying attention to where she was going, but just wanting to work off some of the anger and hurt she felt. Soon she found herself in a quiet spot where she could put her burning cheek against the cool glass of a window that looked out over the parking lot of the Naval Yard. Tears prickled her eyes as she thought about what Morgan had said to her and JJ and Reid's silent agreement with him. If they could look at her with suspicion and doubt over something like this, what would they say if they knew about other things in her past?

For the first time in a while, she felt very much alone.

"Emily?"

Prentiss looked up at the feminine voice and into the face of a smiling Abby Sciuto. The forensics expert's smile faded when she saw Emily's face and she did exactly what Emily needed at the moment. Without saying a word, Abby stepped forward and hugged the older woman. With an arm wrapped around Emily, she led her towards a back hallway. "Come on, whatever it is, you can take a moment in my lab. No one will bother you there."

* * *

**A/N: Yep, a little hint there about Doyle and why Emily didn't share anything about her past with her team.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you for the four nominations I got in the 2012 Profiler's Choice Fan Fic awards! I'm honored and touched. There are so many great stories and authors out there that I'm thrilled some of you have found my works worthy. The sequel to this story, "A Rose By Any Other Name" was nominated for Best Crossover. I know it won last year, but the award runners said it was perfectly legit to nominate it again. So thank you for those of you who did! If you go to the Forum's section, the ballot is up to vote. I also want to apologize for the length of time it's taking me to post updates. Work has been beyond insane and it's cutting into all of my time for things like, you know, sleep. Anyway, I hope folks enjoy this installment and thank you again for the nominations!**

* * *

"I don't understand how anyone can do this to another human being," Jimmy Palmer sighed as he handed Ducky a pair of scissors. The ME was finishing sewing the incisions he had to make in Commander Hill's body in order to perform his autopsy. "I mean how can anyone perform a lobotomy on someone?"

"Up until a fairly recent time, it was considered a legitimate form of dealing with mental illness," Ducky replied. "Fortunately, they discovered that such a procedure did very little to help the recipients and found more effective and humane forms of treatment. I'm afraid our suspect has more nefarious reasons behind the commission of this act than those misguided physicians decades ago."

"Why do you think he's doing it?" Palmer asked.

"Because he's a sick bastard," Gibbs replied as he strode into the morgue with Hotch and Rossi following close behind. Never one to mince words, he barked out, "What have you got for me, Duck?"

"It's a bad one, Jethro," the weary man informed his friend. He turned away from the autopsy table and realized Gibbs was not alone. "Hello. I don't think we've met before. " He looked pointedly at Gibbs, waiting for his friend to make introductions.

The NCIS agent sighed. "Dr. Donald Mallard and Jimmy Palmer, Agents Hotchner and Rossi with the FBI."

"Ah, members of Emily's team! Delighted to finally meet you both," Ducky said as he came forward. He automatically held out his hand but realized that they were still bloodied from the autopsy. "Sorry, I forgot. Agent Rossi, David Rossi, correct? I am a great fan of your work! I am a student of forensic profiling and would quite enjoy an opportunity to speak with you for a few minutes at a later time."

"I'm sure we can find some time to do that, Doctor," was Rossi's gracious reply.

"After we've nailed this scumbag," Gibbs interrupted. "What have you got, Duck?"

"I'm afraid not much, gentlemen," Ducky replied as he discarded his gloves and washed up. "The connections to and from the prefrontal cortex were severed as you would expect to find in a lobotomy. It appears that the instrument used was a long, slender piece of metal, perhaps even an orbitoclast that was used in these procedures decades ago. The procedure was likely done through the eye. He would have lifted the eyelid and the instrument would be placed against the top of the eyesocket. A small mallet would be used to drive the orbitoclast through the bone and into the brain along the plane of the bridge of the nose-"

"Duck...,"Gibbs grimaced in distaste. "We get the picture." Hotch remained impassive, but Rossi had scrunched up his face in disgust.

"Yes, well, this barbaric act was likely done soon after the Commander was kidnapped. Healing had begun and would mesh with the time she was still held in captivity before this monster killed her. She was repeatedly sexually assaulted until he likely tired of her and then he strangled her." Ducky wadded up the paper towels he had used to dry his hand into a neat ball and threw them forcefully into the nearby garbage can. "The wounds were some of the most vicious I had ever seen. I truly hope you find this creature soon, Jethro."

"That's the plan," Gibbs murmured. He turned to the FBI men "This sound like your killer?"

Hotch nodded as Rossi said in an angry voice, "To a 'T'. Was there anything else?"

"Possibly," Ducky replied as he moved towards the Commander's feet. "He was careful. No DNA, she was bathed to remove trace evidence but he wasn't careful enough." He pointed to the soles of Hill's feet. "He likely kept them barefoot. There are some scratches as though they walked over a rough surface. He washed whatever trace evidence from the soles, but he missed under the toenails. The Commander had fairly long nails and if she dragged her toes against the ground, as it appears she might have from the bruising and scratching to them, traces would be caught under the nail. It was some dirt and other substances. Abby has it right now."

"That's it?" Hotch asked, sighing in frustration.

"I'm afraid so," Ducky replied. "You are dealing with an extremely clever and I'm frightened to say, experienced, killer who is taking counter forensic measures. This man won't stop and he most likely is searching for his next victim."

"We know, Duck, we know," Gibbs sighed as he turned to leave.

"Thanks, Doctor. We'll talk later," Rossi said as he and Hotch followed Gibbs out.

* * *

Abby sucked on the straw as she quickly went through her third Caf-Pow of the day. She was watching Emily who sat in the forensics expert's office, working on the computer. Emily's face was a mask of cool professionalism, but Abby had seen how upset the older woman was just a few minutes ago. The case was disturbing, but the scientist suspected that wasn't what was bothering her friend. Maybe she got bad news? Or someone said something to Emily to upset her? If it was the latter, Abby didn't know who that could be. Emily was well-liked at NCIS and besides, everyone here knew they would have to deal with Gibbs if he found out the brunette agent had been insulted.

Her own team? Abby sucked on the straw in a more thoughtful manner as she considered that. Abby hadn't met any of the other BAU agents, but she was under the impression that they were a fairly tight knit group. However, when they first met, Abby knew relations between Emily and the rest of her team were rocky. Abby didn't know if they had improved or not. Emily had been quiet about it.

"Abs! Abs!"

The loud music that had been playing in her lab was suddenly cut off and she could hear the unmistakable sound of someone trying to suck something up a straw in an empty cup. A large hand came over the top of the Caf-Pow and moved it away from Abby's mouth. Gibbs took the empty cup out of Abby's hands and held up a new Caf-Pow.

"Gibbs! Perfect timing. I needed a refill." Her eyes traveled up to look at the other two men in the room, one looked startled and the other was looking at her appreciatively. "Hi!"

"Abby Sciuto, Agents Hotchner and Rossi."

The startled one was Hotchner and even he, the master of the blank expression couldn't contain his surprise when he saw Abby Sciuto, crack forensics scientist. He had heard good things about her and knew she had published many journal articles associated with her work and discoveries and studies she had conducted. Everything pointed to one of the brightest forensic experts in the country and many agencies were jealous that NCIS had her under the house. Hotch had expected an older woman, maybe someone as old as Strauss or at least a woman around Prentiss' age. Instead he got Abby in all her Goth glory with her platform shoes that made her already tall frame well over six feet. The lab coat was longer than the schoolgirl, plaid miniskirt she wore and was she actually wearing a spiked dog collar? Hotch could only blink again.

Rossi however, was looking appreciatively at the young, pretty woman. He smiled at her and held his hand out. "David Rossi," he greeted her with a twinkle in his eye.

Gibbs frowned at what he would classify as a leer from the older FBI man, but Abby, so used to such attention merely smiled at the man. She may have an optimistic and sunny outlook on life, but Abby had a very good lecher radar and while she suspected David Rossi liked his women young and frisky, maybe even a bit jailbaity, she got the sense it was a decent guy. "It's nice to meet you, Agent Rossi." She looked over the two men. Rossi was dressed in an expensive blazer and jeans, while Hotchner was in a full, conservative suit and tie. She thought Tony's assessment of Hotchner having a bug up his butt was probably accurate.

"Please, bella, call me Dave."

"You have time to analyze those scrapings Ducky sent up?" Gibbs interrupting Rossi's attempts to hit on his petted scientist.

"Geez, Gibbs, I just got it about forty-five minutes ago. I'm good, but for me to have something for you would be inhuman. Though we know I have managed to do some superhuman things in the past. Remember that time when I reconstructed that bomb that was in a million and two pieces and covered in horse manure-"

"Abs," Gibbs warned her.

"Fortunately, I am in a superhuman mood today. I'm not done analyzing the substance, but I have something on the blanket that Commander Hill was wrapped in." She moved towards her keyboard and her fingers began to fly furiously over the keys. "It's a high end, cashmere and wool blend blanket sold through expensive stores. I've compiled a list of local and online stores that sell it."

"He's using an expensive blanket?" Hotch asked as he moved towards the screen, getting his first look at the evidence found at the scene.

"He didn't use the same one at the other crime scenes?" Gibbs asked.

Hotch shook his head. "Blankets were found in two of the drop sites but they were mass produced blankets found in numerous stores. Nothing could be traced on that end. But this one, this is new."

"It could be something as simple as he ran out of the other blankets and just used this one," Abby said.

Hotch shook his head. "This guy is organized, careful. I can't see him making a mistake like that."

"Unless something happened to throw him off," Gibbs supplied.

"We haven't discerned any pattern to his killings as far as time," Rossi replied. "They're just getting to be more frequent and closer together. Commander Hill's body was dumped less than two weeks from his previous victim. That's the shortest time frame we've seen so far."

"He may not have expected her to be found so quickly. Where she was dumped off, maintenance had already serviced that area of the park and weren't scheduled to be back in that section for another two weeks. She wasn't visible from the path. If that dog hadn't found her, she might have gone unnoticed for a few days if not the full two weeks until the maintenance crews hit the area again."

"It's definitely a deviation from his previous behavior," Hotch noted as he turned away from the screen. "If you could send us the list of those retailers, we can start with that."

"Already sent to McGee," Abby replied brightly.

Hotch nodded his thanks and turned his head to look at the screen again. As he did that, he noticed for the first time someone was sitting in the small office in the back of the lab. He realized it was Emily.

"What's Prentiss doing here?" Hotch asked.

The other two men glanced over to where he was looking and then all three turned to Abby for an explanation.

Brilliant as she was, Abby Sciuto was a lousy poker player. The three men knew immediately something disturbing had happened that would cause Emily Prentiss to take refuge in the lab.

"Abs…" Gibbs pressed.

"I don't know what happened, but Emily was…upset a little while ago so I brought her down here so she could just decompress a bit."

"Upset?" Rossi repeated. Hotch frowned in concern. "Who upset her?"

Abby shrugged and Hotch turned towards Gibbs. "I hope no one at NCIS said anything inappropriate to Agent Prentiss." Hotch's voice was frigid with anger. Prentiss was tough. He had only seen her rattled once before, her friend Matthew's case. He couldn't imagine anyone saying anything that would cause her to hide away. His hand tightened into a fist. What if someone had acted inappropriately towards her? There had been times when local law enforcement they were working with had made lewd and unwanted advances towards Emily, but she had always handled herself professionally and with dignity. She was never rattled. It had to be something truly outrageous.

Nearly the exact same thoughts were going through Gibbs' mind. It had to be something very egregious for Emily to remove herself completely and seek out a safe haven and even for Abby to felt the need to offer it. He heard Hotch's last remark and his eyes flattened out as he said, "If they did, they're going to regret it," was the NCIS man's ominous reply.

"I should go check on her," Rossi said in a worried tone. He still wasn't sure if she was completely recovered from Matthew's death and all the old wounds that case had opened up. He had been watching her closely the past few weeks and he wanted her to know he was here to listen if she needed someone to talk to.

Abby placed a hand on Rossi's arm. "Just give her a little space and time," she said softly. "Don't worry, she's okay here, but if you push, I think she'll just clam up. I think she's embarrassed that I saw her like that. Just leave her with me. I'll make sure she's not bothered and that she'll be back upstairs when she's more…centered."

Rossi's eyes softened as he stared into Abby's green ones. Yes, he appreciated the long legs, the pretty features, and the apparent wild child persona she outwardly presented, but he could see that Abby was a good, gentle soul and if he wasn't there to keep an eye on Emily, Abby would be the next best person. He patted her hand gently and nodded his thanks.

Hotch took more convincing. He looked doubtfully between Abby and Gibbs and threw another concerned look at Emily in the office. She still hadn't noticed they were in the outer lab, the glass doors between them muffling their voices and her attention completely focused on the computer.

Gibbs came up to Hotch's shoulder and said quietly to him, "Trust Abby. Emily is in good hands and Abs is right. Emily will feel embarrassed by whatever happened. We'll figure out what it was either by asking around or she'll tell someone herself."

Hotch glanced once more at Prentiss but nodded reluctantly. He knew the others were right, she would feel embarrass and she would likely feel he might be wondering if she could perform her job on this case if her head wasn't 100% in the game. Best to let her gather herself and focus herself back onto the investigation without her knowing he was concerned. Meanwhile, he, Gibbs and Rossi could poke around and see if anyone knew what happened to make Prentiss so upset.

"Ms. Sciuto, thank you for your help," Hotch murmured as he glanced one more time at Prentiss and then headed out of the lab. Rossi nodded his thanks and gave Abby a look that said, _Keep me posted. On everything._

* * *

**A/N 2: I'm trying to balance case and character story here so I hope folks don't mind me switching back and forth between the two. Hopefully I'm weaving them in without too much unevenness. I also feel, next to Emily, that Rossi would likely be the next person who would get along best with the NCIS team for a variety of reasons.**

**For those who are looking for the Profiler's Choice nominees and how to vote, you can find it at:**

** topic/**** 74868/73609377/1/ 2012-Profiler-s-Choice-CM-Awards-FINAL-VOTING-BALLOT-HERE**

**Just remove the spaces. There are a lot of very good authors/stories nominated so show your support by voting!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: And here we are with a new part. I will say this, those who think I might be writing Hotch as constantly at a disadvantage to Gibbs, don't worry, this will be a balanced story. Both men will learn something from each other and get a better understanding of the other. They may never like each other, but there'll be a bit of grudging respect between them. It'll just take them a while to go there and being on Gibbs' home turf, does put Hotch at a bit of a disadvantage, for now. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!**

* * *

Emily was aware that Hotch, Rossi and Gibbs were just outside the glass doors in Abby's lab. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could feel their eyes on her. She wasn't ready to deal with them yet, not with anyone. Right now she was feeling too hurt and emotional and she didn't want anyone to see that. It was bad enough Abby had caught her, but given who could have found her earlier, the cheerful Goth was definitely the preferable choice. Abby could be sometimes be smothering in her concern and need to care for someone, but she was also sensitive about giving someone space when they needed, and Emily needed space at this moment.

However, Emily's busy mind also could not shut itself off when there was such an urgent matter, namely a serial killer going after women whom she bore a passing resemblance to. They also had something else in common, they all came from prominent families and Gibbs had said the Secretary of the Navy had forced this joint investigation. That meant these families all had considerable political pull. All of these factors meant she might have more in common with these woman's than just a physical similarity.

They had already done an extensive background search on the victims, but something about the women was nagging at Emily. She could have asked Garcia to do the research, but Emily needed something to take her mind off of things and she knew the tech analyst would pick up on the change in her voice and realize something was wrong. Besides, she didn't need Garcia's considerable skills to do what was needed.

With a simple search on Google, Emily found what she was looking for. She saved what she needed on a USB drive and pushed back from Abby's desk. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, shoving aside the hurt feelings and sense of isolation she felt from the accusations hurled at her. After taking a few more moments, she opened her eyes, stood and walked out of Abby's office.

"Emily!" Abby looked up from where she was examining something on her lab table, the magnifying goggles obscuring her eyes and making her look very much like a mad scientist. She pushed the goggles up on her head and her green eyes peered worriedly at the older woman. "Everything okay?"

Prentiss gave her a small smile. "Yeah. Thanks for…letting me use your computer."

Abby pursed her lips together, but simply nodded. If Emily wanted to pretend nothing had happened, she wasn't going to force it. "Mi lab-o, es su lab-o."

Emily offered her another smile of thanks and nodded. She left forensics and hurried up to the conference room the BAU team had been assigned. When she got there, she saw Hotch was just about to start the briefing. He looked piercingly at her and Emily could feel her back automatically stiffen, mis-reading his dark-eyed gaze as criticism for not being there sooner or questioning what she had been doing.

She ignored JJ, Reid and Morgan and moved to stand over by Rossi who looked inquiringly at her, the concern in his eyes clear. She just offered him a small smile, but his concern wasn't alleviated. As she turned around, she saw Gibbs staring at her, a question in his eyes. She averted her gaze, knowing that the NCIS agent had an uncanny ability to sniff out when she was troubled.

"Good, let's get started," Hotch said. "A week ago, the BAU was called into investigate three murders that had taken occurred in DC, Maryland and Virginia. Due to the multiple states, the FBI had jurisdiction on the case. Like Commander Hill, all three women were from well-connected, prominent families and were successful career women themselves.

"Deborah Mason was the daughter of a District Court judge and the owner of a successful Internet business. She was the first victim and her body was found in Arlington, Virginia. The next victim was Alison James, environmental attorney, her body was found in Fredericksburg, Maryland. Her mother is Lisa Maxwell, the lobbyist. The third victim was Callie Baxter-Thomas, CFO of Three Arches Electronics. Her family owns the company. She was found in DC as was Commander Hill."

"You're familiar with what this unsub is doing to his victims, but what you are not aware of is that he seems to be keeping these women for less and less time," Rossi continued. "Mason was kept a week as was James. Maxwell lasted five days. Hill four."

"The accelerated timeline indicates that he is becoming less satisfied with each murder and as such will likely escalate in other ways besides the timeline," Morgan added.

"Escalate how?" McGee asked.

"By giving these women lobotomies, the unsub is creating a docile female to act as a sexual servant. His choice of victims are the complete opposite of such a subservient person. However, the accelerated timeline indicates that he is growing dissatisfied with his choices at a much quicker pace. We think it's possible that besides taking women more frequently, he might resort to taking multiple women."

"Wouldn't they be harder to handle if there were two of them?" Ziva queried.

"He likely would not take them simultaneously," JJ added. "But we might see victims being abducted closer in time than we have been. So he could have one victim there should another fail to meet his needs."

"He's also physically fit," Hotch added. "All of these women, while slender, were incredibly fit. Commander Hill was a trained military officer with a black belt. These women would not be easily subdued."

"And smart," Rossi commented. "Until today, he's left no forensic evidence. The expensive blanket he left behind with Commander Hill might be another indication he's devolving and making more mistakes."

"Any other connection besides being from powerful families and having good jobs?" Gibbs asked.

Hotch was about to say "no" when Emily suddenly spoke up. He and everyone else on the BAU team looked at her in surprise.

"Yes," Emily said in a quiet voice as she stepped forward towards the laptop that sat on the conference room table, projecting pictures of the victims onto the monitor in the room. She plugged in her USB drive and pulled up what she had saved earlier on Abby's computer.

Photos of very young versions of the victims in party dresses appeared on the screen. None of the women were in the photos together and judging by the clothing, it appeared they might have been taken a few years apart from each other.

"We know all of these women were from prominent, well-connected, powerful families with ties to inside the Beltway. However, we haven't found anything linking all of these women together. During the time these young women were teenagers, one thing all women from these kind of families did if they were in the DC area, they all went to Miss Ellington's Academy for Young Ladies for etiquette and social manners lessons. I did a search of their website and these photos were among the archives there."

"Prentiss, how do you know about this place?" Hotch asked suspiciously.

Emily, took a deep breath. "Because I went to Miss Ellington's."

Gibbs felt his blood freeze and he was momentarily thrown back to the park, looking down at Commander Hill's body and being struck by her resemblance to Emily. At the time, the connection was fragile and tenuous. There were millions of slender, pale brunettes, but with this additional information, this concrete connection, he couldn't help but feel a wave of protectiveness towards the FBI agent.

And Gibbs wasn't the only one as Rossi shifted his feet slightly to lean more towards Emily and Hotch's body went rigid and still. There was no reason to think Emily was in any danger, but her similarities with the victims were just too great to completely ignore. Hotch had to quell the urge to order Prentiss to stay out of the field. Good God, he's had her parading around this investigation for a week! If the unsub had watched them at any of the drop sites, he would have seen Emily, found out who she is, her family, if he didn't know her already.

"Is Emily in danger?" Tony voiced what was running through everyone's mind.

"Absolutely not," Prentiss said in a firm voice. "Miss Ellington has taught thousands of girls. The place has been in business for decades and it continues to be. I'm in no more danger than any other woman who might have been a student there."

"None of them have been walking around at drop sites," Gibbs replied in a grim voice, his mind having gone to the same place Hotch's had.

"This is a good lead," Hotch continued. "But we can't ignore other possibilities. We should check out Commander Hills' boyfriend as well as Miss Ellington's. I believe Agent McGee managed to track him down to the Italian Embassy?"

"Right," McGee nodded. "However, I didn't get a name, just that that particular number was assigned to one of their employees."

Hotch was quiet as he mulled things over. He came to a decision. "Prentiss, you and Rossi checkout the boyfriend. Morgan, you and I will look into the Miss Ellington connection. The rest of you dig deeper into our victims since it's obvious we didn't go deep enough."

The NCIS team looked annoyed and Gibbs made his displeasure at Hotch taking lead felt. "My people and I aren't just going to sit here twiddling our thumbs, Hotchner."

"You're more than free to join us," Hotch said in a magnanimous tone.

"Don't mind if we do," Gibbs returned sarcastically. "McGee, help our FBI friends out with the research here. DiNozzo, you go with Hotchner and Morgan. Ziva, you and I will go with Emily and Rossi."

"Right boss," DiNozzo replied for the rest of the team though he was curious as to why Gibbs didn't take the Ellington assignment which was the lead with more potential and would give the NCIS agent a chance to keep an eye on Hotchner.

Normally, Gibbs would have gone with Hotchner. It was clear that they would most likely find something useful with Miss Ellington, but he was concerned about Emily. She seemed composed and present, but less than an hour earlier he had seen her upset and he still didn't know what had agitated her. With the possibility she might be a target, he wasn't going to let her out of his sight unless he knew she was completely alert and aware of everything. Although, what Hotchner was doing was obvious to everyone in the room. Emily, with her connection to Miss Ellington's Academy, was the best person to follow-up that lead, but the BAU leader was clearly putting her out of the line of potential fire. It was something Gibbs understood, but didn't agree with. Additionally, the older man was annoyed by the FBI leader's high handedness. Gibbs figured sticking DiNozzo with Hotchner was punishment enough.

Emily was well aware of what Hotch was doing and was annoyed by it. This was her lead, her information and with her past connection, she was the obvious and perfect agent to follow it through. Hotch was giving her clean up duty, probably out of some misguided feeling to protect her. There was no need for it. She didn't need his or anyone's protection. The possibility that she was in the killer's sights was a million to one.

Everyone began to gather their things and leave the conference room to take care of their assignments. Emily hurried after Hotch and stopped him in the hallway.

"Hotch! A word please."

Imperceptibly, Hotch's shoulders stiffened but he simply nodded and gestured towards an open doorway that led into another small conference room. He closed the door after her. "What's wrong, Prentiss?"

"Why am I on the boyfriend track and not the Miss Ellington connection?" she asked, coming straight to the point.

"Because I decided that would be best," Hotch said in his most authoritative, no nonsense voice.

"It doesn't make any sense," Emily argued.

"Prentiss, are you questioning my orders?" Hotch took a step towards her. He didn't want to explain that his blood ran cold every time he thought she might be in danger, that all he was doing was trying to protect her and make sure she was safe. He did not want to fail her like he had before. But he couldn't say any of these things, because she was who she was and he was who he was.

"I'm asking why you made the assignments in the way that you did."

"I don't have to explain my orders to you, Prentiss, but you do have to follow them. Now, either do that or I can put you on leave," Hotch snapped back.

Emily was furious and he could almost see the waves of anger radiating off of her. However, she held herself back and only snapped out a sharp,

"Yes, _sir_!" before spin on her heel, yanking the door open and slamming it after her with a resounding bang.

Only Emily Prentiss could inject enough venom in that one syllable word of "sir" to knock a person back on his heels. Hotch sighed and rubbed his face wearily. He hated being at odds with her, especially after how thoughtful and supportive she had been in the wake of Foyet. But he had failed to protect one woman, he wasn't going to let that happen again.

Hotch opened the conference room door and stepped out into the hallway, only to find himself face-to-face with Gibbs.

"Pissed her off," Gibbs commented. He had seen and heard the door slamming. "Should've expected it."

These were all said as factual statements, causing Hotch to bristle, something he commonly did around Agent Gibbs, at the implication that he should have known better.

"You can't keep Emily in a glass box. She's an agent," Gibbs continued.

"How I run my team is none of your business," Hotch replied in a cool voice.

"Emily is a friend, so that makes this my business."

"And she's my subordinate and I decide what assignment she will be doing," Hotch snapped back. He peered pointedly at Gibbs. "Obviously you yourself have some concerns since you decided to go with her to interview the boyfriend."

Gibbs let out a soft chuckle and started to walk away. "Hotchner, you gotta learn the difference between being over-protective and having someone's back."

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**A/N 2: For those who are looking for the Profiler's Choice nominees and how to vote, you can find it at:**

**topic/ 74868/73609377/1/ 2012-Profiler-s-Choice-CM-Awards-FINAL-VOTING-BALLOT-HERE**

**Just remove the spaces. There are a lot of very good authors/stories nominated so show your support by voting!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I seriously believe that not only would Gibbs stick DiNozzo with Hotch because he trusts Tony to do the job on behalf of NCIS, but also because he knows Tony can get under anyone's skin. I also believe that Tony would like understand he might have a dual purpose as well in being paired with Hotch.**

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Hotch gripped the steering wheel tightly as the only way to keep from turning around in his seat and decking DiNozzo. His work and the frequency with which he has had to interview some of the most depraved and devious human minds had left him with a high tolerance for insults, goading, and manipulation. Typically such things bounced harmlessly off him. However, even Hotch found his admirable patience and restraint stretched to the limit by Tony DiNozzo's incessant prattle about movies.

"Now, I thought the American remake of 'Shall We Dance' wasn't bad, but the original Japanese version is far superior. That's the way it is with a most movies. All though John Carpenter's version of 'The Thing', way better than the original."

Morgan sat in the front passenger seat next to Hotch. He threw an irritated and pleading look at his boss, the younger man not even having the level of thick skin the BAU team leader had. DiNozzo was working both of the FBI men's last nerve, which was probably what Gibbs had in mind when he assigned the younger NCIS agent to go with the FBI men. They had only been in the car for fifteen minutes but it felt like an hour as DiNozzo kept up a running commentary on movies.

"And 'Ben Hur', you don't see something like that chariot race anymore. The spectacle! Now, that is a bit of a toss-up with the original because the original version's chariot race was pretty darn spectacular as well. But Charlton Heston as Ben Hur, directed by William Wyler. Wyler, great movies he directed, 'Mrs. Miniver', 'Jezebel', "Roman Holiday', 'The Collector'…"

"Seriously, do you think Gibbs would honestly miss him if we kill him and dump his body into the Potomac?" Morgan muttered in a low tone. Hotch tilted up one corner of his mouth.

"'The Collector', huh, he's kinda like our guy," Tony mused. "You know, kidnap a woman and keep her."

"Our unsub is not a 'collector', he's a sadist," Hotch said in a cold voice.

"Yeah, but in 'The Collector' he gets away with kidnapping Samantha Eggar. No one suspects what he's done. He planned it all so carefully," Tony continued. "Like this sicko."

"We know. He's careful. He's a planner. It's all in the profile we've built," Morgan said in an aggravated tone.

"So he just automatically got this good at kidnapping and killing women and not leaving any trace evidence behind? I'm not the serial killer expert, but don't these guys start off a little sloppier? Maybe going for an easier target than these fit, high profile women? I mean, as soon as one of them doesn't show up on their regular schedule, there's somebody in their life raising the alarm."

That gave the two profilers pause. It was true, how did the unsub avoid leaving absolutely no evidence until now? These were not high risk victims. Their disappearance would be noticed immediately and with their connections an all-out effort would be made to find them, increasing the unsub's risk of being caught.

"He may have attempted something like this before," Hotch said slowly.

"But we did a search of potential victims and nothing turned up," Morgan argued.

"What did you search on? Maybe Dr. Giggles didn't start off doing homemade lobotomies and that's a new thing for him to keep these women docile," Tony added. "Maybe his earlier victims fought back and he just didn't want to deal with that anymore."

Hotch and Morgan exchanged looks. They hadn't considered the possibility that the unsub may not had formed his signature. When they searched for prior victims, they concentrated on the victims' looks, if there had been any sexual assault and deaths. But what if the victims had survived? And if the unsub started with victims who may not have reported being sexually assaulted and held captive, perhaps a prostitute who may not have wanted to go to the police, it may not even show up in any records. It wouldn't be a first time they've had an unsub move from prostitutes to socialites.

"It's a possibility we could have missed something," Hotch admitted grudgingly. "We'll have our tech analyst look into it."

"McGee can do that," Tony began to say, but Morgan already had his phone out and was calling Garcia.

"Hey Baby Girl, where you at?"

"Oooh, where do you need me, handsome?" came Garcia's purr over the speaker phone on Morgan's cell phone.

"Rrrrowwwrrr, who's that?" DiNozzo asked in a curious voice as he leaned forward to hear better.

"Morgan? Who's that?" Garcia squeaked out, surprised by the unfamiliar voice.

"You're on speaker, Garcia. I'm here with Hotch and Special Agent DiNozzo from NCIS."

"Oh crap. Sorry, sir!"

"Garcia," Hotch said crisply, ignoring her lapse, "We want you to do another search of potential victims. This time though, focus on survivors of sexual assault."

"Sir, that's going to a pretty long list, even if I use the victim type as a filter."

"Concentrate on hospital records," Hotch continued, "We're thinking the victims may not have reported to the police what happened to them and no report was filed."

"Sir, those hospital records are confidential. If the women didn't report a sexual assault, there's not going to be any information I can access."

"Most hospitals and clinics have a domestic abuse or sexual assault counselor. Talk to them. They might remember a victim and if they can't give you a name, they can give you a starting point of when the attack happened. We're thinking it's possible that the unsub started with an easier target, prostitutes, homeless women who may have survived an attack. See if the counselors or even the ER attendants remember anyone who was seriously injured, but still refused to report it."

"I will do what I can, my liege. Garcia out!"

"She sounds fun," DiNozzo grinned.

"She's also the best at her job," Morgan growled out. He glanced over his shoulder at the NCIS agent. "And off limits."

"Hey, okay! I get it! I don't move into other guys' territories."

"No, it's not that-," Morgan began.

"We're here," Hotch sighed in relief. He parked and turned to look at both men. "I suggest we keep focused on this case." He gazed pointedly at both of them before he got out of the car.

"I see the bug up his butt is continuing to build condos," Tony muttered as he got out of the car and followed the two men into Miss Ellington's.

Miss Ellington's Academy for Young Ladies was located in an old building in Southeast Washington, not far from the Capitol. It was in a converted, relatively large brownstone that had two, small and rather pretentious stone lions adorning the either side of a short staircase that lead up to a door painted bright blue. A small, discrete brass plate sign next to the door announced in cursive script that this was the right building.

The doorknob, brightly polished, turned easily in Hotch's grasp and the men entered. The foyer was empty, a small Queen Anne desk and chair that typically housed a receptionist was unoccupied. The décor was done in a pleasing combination of pale yellows and creams with touches of dark hunter green. It had an air of quiet and rich elegance. They could hear music coming from a room down a short hallway. Hotch led the way down the hall and they stopped in the doorway of a large room.

A group of a dozen 13 to 16 year olds were lined up into two equal lines, staring straight ahead to where an instructor was lecturing them on posture and carriage. They were all dressed in simple black skirts that came to their knees and white blouses. Black, two inch, Mary Jane styled pumps were on their feet and they wore little makeup.

"They look like they're preparing to go into the nunnery," DiNozzo said in wonder.

"Hardly," came a cold, deep, feminine voice from behind the men.

They turned and saw a striking woman who could have been anywhere from forty to seventy. The woman with her deep, rich voice and tall, elegant appearance must have been a great beauty in her youth and still looked extremely attractive. Her silver hair was carefully coiffed and her face practically unlined. Bright blue eyes peered out from black framed glasses. She was dressed elegantly in black with a strand of pearls around her neck and one gold cuff. She was tall as well, her heels making her almost as tall as Morgan, and her perfect, straight posture put the young girls in the other room to shame.

"What are you…gentlemen doing here," she asked in a sharp, haughty voice.

"Agents Hotchner and Morgan from the FBI. This is Agent DiNozzo with NCIS," Hotch introduced them, showing her their IDs which the woman examined closely.

"Well," she huffed out. "What can I do for both federal agencies?"

"I'm sorry, you are?" Hotch asked.

"Vivian Ellington Maxwell," she replied as though this information should have been intuited by the men.

"Oh, so you're the Miss Ellington on the school name," Tony replied.

"My Mother was the original Miss Ellington. I took over for her thirty years ago."

"Is there somewhere we can talk privately, ma'am?"

She stared at them for a long moment with her piercing blue eyes before she spun gracefully on her heel and ordered in her sharp voice, "Follow me. We can talk in my office."

Vivian led them down a twisty hallway past smaller class rooms where they could hear lessons on dining etiquette, small talk and dress. "We are ladies, not Kim Kardashian clones. Breasts do not need to be aired like sheets!"

The Academy owner ushered them into her office, a sunny room with more Queen Anne furniture, silk wall coverings and a tasteful scattering of antiques. Pictures of the Academy that featured past students adorned the wall in a few places. A large vase of white roses sat on a credenza behind her desk where she seated herself.

"Now, what do you want?" she asked, getting right to the point.

"We were wondering if you can tell us if these women were students here," Hotch replied as she handed Mrs. Maxwell photos of their victims, saying each of their names as she took each picture.

Her eyebrows raised, Mrs. Maxwell studied each photo for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, now that I see them together like this, I remember them. I thought the first three women, looked familiar when I saw their photos in the papers. However, I knew them as Deborah Jones and Alison Carter, their maiden names. Yes, they were students here." She frowned as she looked at Commander Hill's photo. "She's a little younger than the others. There were three periods where I took time off from working at the school to have my children. She may have been a student then. One moment."

Vivian stood and went over to a bookcase where several shelves of white leather bound books with gold dates imprinted on the spines stood neatly. She pulled one and returned to her desk, seating herself once more. She opened the book and flipped through the pages, finding a page and handing the book over to Hotch. "There she is the class of 1983. I had my second son that year."

It was a different photo from the one Emily had found on the Internet. The men could see a fifteen year old Laura Hill with braces and glasses smiling at the camera.

"You don't remember Laura Hill, but what do you remember about the other girls?" Morgan asked.

Vivian let out a huff of breath. "Not much. They weren't extraordinary in any way that I can remember. I remember most of my students in some capacity, but only that they've been through the Academy unless they were unusual in some way."

"They were all here different years. Was there someone else at the Academy, an instructor or someone who was here frequently over the period of time that these women attended here?" Tony asked.

Vivian stared off in space for a moment. "That would have been from 1980 to 1983," she mused. "There was of course Miss Craddock who taught dance, but she passed away in 2004. Mrs. Bellamy, table etiquette, she left in 1995 and moved to Florida, I believe when her husband was transferred."

"Any men?" Hotch asked.

This received a cold stare from Mrs. Maxwell. "Our instructors have always been female. If you haven't realized it by now, Agent Hotchner, my Academy only caters to the best families and as such, they expect a high caliber of instructor who will be interacting with their daughters. We do an extensive background check on every staff member."

"Perhaps a handyman? A contractor? Surely you've had service done to the building," Morgan pressed.

"I would have to check the records, but I don't recall anyone who frequented the Academy and was male," Mrs. Maxwell continued in a cool tone. "I understand you are likely trying to find someone who knew all of these women and they seem to be connected by attending my Academy. However, thousands of young ladies from the tri-state area have passed through these walls. It may merely be a coincidence." She stood, clearly dismissing them.

The men also stood, not having any other questions for her. Hotch handed her his card and asked that she phone him after she had gone through her service and contractor records for the time period the victims were at the school. He thanked Vivian for her time and the men were about to leave the office when a photo caught Hotch's eye. He moved closer to it and saw some sort of class photo of about twenty girls dressed in dance gowns standing demurely by a large tree. It was the face of one girl that caught his attention.

"Who's that?" he asked Vivian as he pointed to a pretty brunette in the front row.

Vivian moved towards the photo and peered closely at it. "Oh yes, I remember her. Headstrong child. Emily Prentiss. The daughter of Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss. Beautiful child but never took her studies her seriously."

DiNozzo and Morgan had crowded around the photo to get a look at a young Emily who seemed to stare defiantly back at the photographer. There was a proud, rebellious tilt to her head and a determined set to her mouth, but there was also a sad look in her eye. A small date was imprinted on the mat around the photo, "June 17, 1986."

Hotch was looking at the other photos, taking note of their date and a discrete mark in the bottom right hand corner of every photo. "Mrs. Maxwell, you've used the same photographer throughout the 1980s and 1990s."

She stiffened at the implication and after a short moment, nodded her head sharply. "Yes. Yes and we still do. It's a family operated business. Williamson Photography in Alexandria."

"We'll need their contact information." Hotch's voice remained polite but there was a level of steel to it that clearly said he would expect no less than Mrs. Maxwell's complete cooperation from this moment forward.

Vivian Maxwell bristled but only nodded sharply and turned to get the address. Hotch looked back at the photo of Emily and wondered why her eyes looked so sad.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I just want to thank folks for nominating and then voting for _A Rose By Any Other Name_ as best crossover in the 2012 Profiler's Choice Awards. I am so touched and honored that people enjoyed that story so much. I hope you like this story which is the sequel to _Rose_ as well. Please let me know what you think.**

* * *

"We'll take our car," Gibbs told Emily and Rossi as he strode quickly towards the parking lot where the NCIS agency cars were. Ziva had fallen into step behind her boss with Emily not too far behind. Rossi was startled by the abrupt and quick pace and hastened to catch up with them.

Dave barely managed to slide into the elevator before the doors closed. He gave Gibbs a sharp look. "You move fast," he said in a mild tone.

"Don't like wasting time," was Gibbs' simple reply. His cold blue eyes stared appraisingly at Rossi who calmly submitted himself to the scrutiny. The oldest profiler in the group had been around much longer than his teammates. He knew they were stepping into Gibbs' territory despite the fact that the BAU had caught the case before NCIS was involved. Gibbs was a former Marine and one thing all good Marines had in common was loyalty. Out of loyalty to Commander Hill, Gibbs would personally see her murder is solved, agency jurisdiction be damned. The icy blue eyes seemed to lighten just a fraction and Gibbs looked away, having ascertained whatever information he had been looking for. The elevator dinged, announcing they have arrived at their destination and the NCIS agent was already stepping off before the doors could fully open.

"Charming fellow," Rossi huffed out as he tried to keep up with the quick pace Gibbs set.

"He has his moments," Emily replied. They reached the car just as Gibbs and Ziva were getting into the front seats.

As Rossi slid into his seat, he noticed Emily was hastily buckling her seatbelt. Puzzled, he slammed his car door shut and opened his mouth to ask her why she was in such a hurry to put on her seatbelt when there was a squeal of tires and the car was put violently into reverse. Rossi was thrown back against his seatback but before he could recover from his surprise, the car lurched forward as Gibbs changed gears and pressed down hard on the accelerator. Rossi fell off the backseat into an undignified heap on the floor.

Emily helped her friend back up, a wry smile on her face. "I forgot to mention that Gibbs is kind of an aggressive driver."

"Thanks for the warning, Prentiss," Rossi scowled as he resumed his seat. Gibbs took a sharp turn, throwing Dave against his door. Hurriedly, the FBI agent found his seatbelt and fastened it. He sent Prentiss an alarmed look.

She smiled and shrugged. "It could be worse."

"How could it be worse?" Rossi hissed back at her.

"Ziva could be driving."

Rossi muttered a short prayer in Italian and made the sign of the cross. The prayer seemed to work as they made it to the Italian Embassy in one piece though Rossi suspected he had quite a few more gray hairs after the ride. As they followed Ziva and Gibbs up towards the building, he gave Emily a look.

"How are you doing, kiddo?" Rossi murmured under his breath.

Emily arched an eyebrow at him. "Fine. Why do you ask?"

"You seemed upset earlier," Rossi murmured. "Did something happen?"

She licked her lips, but merely said, "I just needed a quiet place to do some research which was why I left the others to set up. I had that hunch I wanted to follow up on." Her face darkened. "Something Hotch didn't think I capable of handling."

"I don't think it was that, Emily," Rossi replied in a gentle voice. He hesitated a moment and then said carefully. "He's just being cautious, especially after what happened with Foyet. He can't bear to think of losing someone else who's close to him."

"We're not close, Rossi."

"Yes you are. You may not think it and he may not show it all the time, but you are close to him." Rossi glanced ahead where he could see Gibbs' gray coat flapping in the wind as he walked. "Hotch is a lot like your friend over there. Proud, private, but protective. They're men that don't show affection often or openly, but they feel it deeply." He patted Emily's shoulder. "Don't take it personally. It's not a comment on your abilities. It's just his misguided sense of protectiveness."

"Well, I wish he would direct it somewhere else," Emily grumbled. She sneezed violently and fished out a tissue to blow her nose.

Rossi frowned at her. "You're sounding worse."

Emily waved her hand dismissively. "It's nothing."

Rossi continued to frown but said no more as they had caught up with Ziva and Gibbs at the front door of the Italian Embassy. After showing their credentials and explaining their request they were asked to wait in the Vice Counsel's office. A tall, gray hair man, hair carefully coiffed in sculpted waves and dressed in an impeccable designer suit entered the room and looked inquiringly at them. His smile revealed gleaming, perfect white teeth.

"Agents?" His deep baritone was slightly accented, but his English was perfect. "I am Bernardo Manzetti, Vice Counsel. I understand you have questions regarding a cell phone that is from the embassy."

"We need to find the owner of this number. It's connected to a case we are working on," Ziva said as she handed a slip of paper with a number printed on it after the agents introduced themselves.

Manzetti took the paper and glanced at the number. A look of exasperation crossed his face and he sighed. "_Prego, si accomodi_. Please, sit down. I have forgotten my manners."

"We're fine," Gibbs replied. "The number."

The Vice Counsel sighed again. "_Si_, I know the number. I trust a woman is involved?"

"What makes you say that?" Emily asked.

"The man assigned to this number is a, how do you say? Ladies man." Manzetti pursed his lips in distaste, indicating that was the politest term he could find to describe his colleague. "I will ask that he join us." He crossed over to a phone and spoke in rapid Italian.

Gibbs was the only agent in the room who did not understand Italian. Ziva said under her breath. "He just asked them to bring in that disgusting dog."

"Don't need to understand the language to know the Vice Counsel isn't a fan of this guy," Gibbs muttered back.

Manzetti hung up and came towards them with his polite smile firmly back in place. "_Prego_, is there anything I can get for you? Some cappuccino?"

"Thank you, no. We just need to speak to the owner of that number," Rossi politely declined.

"He is coming." Manzetti pursed his lips again in distaste.

A few moments later, there was a quiet knock on the door. The Vice Counsel asked the person to come in and the door opened. He was tall with dark hair that turned silver at the temples and was in his late 40s or early 50s. His tanned skin spoke of leisurely hours spent in the sun probably playing tennis or polo judging by his lean, but muscular frame. Bright blue eyes looked out from his face. He was a handsome man, but there was something about him that set off warning bells in three of the agents.

For Emily, she found herself facing a childhood nightmare.

Rossi was standing next to Prentiss and he felt her tense when the man walked into the room. He turned to look at her in surprise and saw she had paled considerably. She swallowed a gasp, but made enough noise to make Gibbs and Ziva turn around. Though she tried to hide it, Prentiss definitely looked surprised and shaken. The other three agents turned sharp eyes back to the new man and instinctively, Rossi moved closer to Emily and the NCIS agent positioned themselves protectively in front of her, to keep her separated from this newcomer.

"Agents, this is Riccardo Rapetti. He is an attaché here," Manzetti said. "Riccardo, these are agents from NCIS and the FBI. Agents Gibbs, David, Rossi and Prentiss."

"Prentiss?" Rapetti asked in surprised. He looked at Emily and the most unpleasant smile curled around his lips. Rossi, Gibbs and Ziva could feel their hackles raised and they moved just a fraction more into a protective stance around Emily. "I remember an Ambassador Prentiss in Rome when I just started my career. Are you related to her?"

"Her daughter," Emily said stiffly. Rossi sent her a sharp look and then a hostile one at the man.

Rome. The Ambassador was assigned to Rome when Emily was a teenager. Rossi knew that was not a good year for Emily.

"Ah, yes, I think I see the resemblance. A beautiful woman, the Ambassador, like her daughter." He moved as if to shake Emily's hand, but suddenly found himself almost running into the solid wall made of Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

"We need to know if this phone number belongs to you," Gibbs asked, holding up the piece of paper, forcing the man to look at him and away from Emily. Gibbs didn't know what was going on but this man was upsetting his friend and that was enough for Gibbs to make sure he didn't come within ten feet of her.

Rapetti let out a sigh and glanced at the number. "Yes, it is mine. What is this about?"

"Do you know a Commander Laura Hill?" Rossi asked. He was becoming alarmed. He could feel Emily trembling ever so slightly. Something about this man had rattled her and she didn't rattle easily.

"Yes, we went out several times."

"Has something happened to the young lady?" Manzetti inquired, a hint of concern in his voice. He sent Rapetti a sharp look.

"What makes you think that?" Gibbs asked, his voice cold and hard.

"Four agents from two different American law enforcement agencies, it is definitely a serious matter," the Vice Counsel explained, sending Rapetti another sharp, piercing look.

"If something has happened to Laura, I was not involved. I have not seen her in a week," Rapetti said in a dismissive tone.

"She is dead," Ziva replied bluntly, repulsed by the man's callous attitude.

"That is a shame. She was very pretty," Rapetti said, his focus back on Emily. He smiled at her and it was all Emily could do to not shrink back or throw up.

"Hey! Show some respect," Gibbs snarled as he stepped closer towards the man, once again blocking Rapetti's view of Emily. "She was murdered and we need to know where you were last Tuesday."

Rapetti sighed. "I will get you my calendar. Perhaps Agent Prentiss would like to come with me?" He grinned at Emily.

Prentiss could feel her stomach churn and bile rise in her throat. Before she could formulate an answer or Gibbs could push the man back, Ziva stepped forward and said, "I will go with you," she said in a tone that would stand for no discussion or arguments.

Rapetti glanced at her and shrugged. He smiled one more time at Emily. "Perhaps we can have a coffee later, Agent Prentiss and talk about Rome."

This time it was Rossi who stepped before Emily and glared at the other man. The Vice Counsel muttered something under his breath and ordered Rapetti sharply to get his calendar information for the agents. When he had left the room with Ziva, Manzetti apologized for his subordinate's behavior. "I am sorry, he is not a polite man around women."

"You have any complaints about his behavior towards women?" Gibbs asked as he glared at the door Rapetti had gone through there.

"Only that he 'dates' too many women and does not concentrate on his work," Manzetti said with a slight curl of his lip. "However, there have been no formal complaints." He sounded regretful. "Rapetti is the son of-"

"Bruno Rapetti, the billionaire," Emily said in a soft voice. "He has connections and is looked after very well."

"_Si_," Manzetti responded, grateful Emily said what he could not. "He is not the ideal choice here."

"What does he do?" Rossi asked.

"Cultural affairs," Manzetti waved his hand. "Essentially he goes to parties and help plan events though others do the actual work."

"You know of any of his other 'dates' we can interview?" Gibbs asked.

Manzetti shook his head. "No, I do not have their names and phone numbers. I simply hear things and one has to wonder what might be idle gossip."

"But you don't think it's just gossip," Rossi asked.

Manzetti's lip curled again. "How do you say here? There is smoke, there is likely fire."

Ziva returned at that moment and the agents departed, each of them watching a very quiet Emily closely. Rapetti was not seen again, but it was obvious Prentiss had been rattled by the man's appearance and that he knew the effect he had on her. Silently they got into the car, the FBI agents again taking the backseat. This time, Gibbs drove less aggressively and in the rearview mirror he watched Rossi give Emily a worried look. The woman ignored her colleague and everyone else in the care as she studiously looked out the window.

Ziva watched Gibbs watch the FBI agents in the back. She took a deep breath and said, "According to Rapetti's schedule he was in meetings during the day and then had an embassy dinner to attend the day Commander Hill disappeared."

"Track down anyone who can corroborate his story," Gibbs ordered as he continued to glance in the rearview mirror. "The Vice Counsel pretty much said this guy is a real dirtbag with women. If there's something hinky about him, we need to know." This last part was directed at Emily who looked away from the window and met Gibbs' eyes in the rearview mirror for a second before she turned away again to look at the passing scenery that was quickly disappearing as night fell.

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**A/N 2: Yep, there's going to be an explanation of where and how Emily knows Rapetti and why he freaks her out so much and let's just say the explanation will be sending more than one guy through the roof when they figure it out. **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry for the length of time between parts, but for the past two months work has been insane. It's slowed up some, but still very busy. However, there have been small pockets of time to sneak in some writing. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

The car ride back to NCIS headquarters was silent. Rossi occasionally shot Emily a concerned look but said nothing. Gibbs would glance in his mirror every now and then, hoping to catch Prentiss' eye, but she studiously avoided his gaze. Only Ziva acted as though nothing unusual was going on.

"I have emailed McGee the names and contact information of those who were at the Embassy dinner with Rapetti the night Commander Hill disappeared," the former Mossad agent said aloud. She tucked her phone away in her pocket.

"Good," Gibbs said in a grim tone. "Do a full background check on that guy." He looked into the mirror again. "We need to know if there's a possibility he could be involved in these murders." His voice softened just a touch. "We need to get as much information as we can on him."

It was obvious what he meant, but Emily still remained silent. They pulled into the NCIS parking lot and Emily had the door open and was stepping out of the car almost before Gibbs had fully stopped it.

"Emily!" Rossi called out as he fumbled with his seat belt. By the time he was opening his door, Gibbs had already stepped out of the car. The NCIS agent was rounding around behind the vehicle, intent on going after Emily when he suddenly found his path blocked by Ziva. By the time Rossi got out of the car, he could see the other two facing off with each other.

"I think we should also see if we can find any of the other women Rapetti has dated," Ziva informed Gibbs as she blocked his path.

The older NCIS agent gave her a piercing, searching look which she blandly returned. Rossi looked from one to the other, trying to discern what was going on.

Gibbs remained silent, looked up once to see Emily entering the NCIS building and then back at Ziva who had not budged, still blocking her supervisor's way. A few slow heartbeats passed before Gibbs nodded. "Find them. Question them."

Ziva inclined her head and then stepped aside, allowing Gibbs to move towards the building. Rossi also started to move forward but Ziva stepped back until she was now blocking his way.

"Why do I feel like I have to pass a test before I'm allowed to get by?" the FBI man said in a dry tone.

"I just think that perhaps Emily should be given some time and space and not be bombarded by questions right now," Ziva said simply.

Rossi peered closely at her, but it was hard to read the woman's face. Rossi prided himself on his people reading skills, but Agent David was giving him nothing. However, he could sense she felt what she was doing was in Emily's best interest. His first instinct had been to question Emily, to find out the reasons for her disquiet and try to help her with it. With this delay Ziva had caused, Rossi realized, presumably like Gibbs had, that interrogating Prentiss at this time would be counterproductive. Emily was intensely private and he suspected this was a very delicate matter. Demanding answers would likely just drive her further into her shell.

Rossi looked intently at Ziva, realizing she was doing what Abby had done earlier, protecting Emily from talking about something that had upset her. Rossi knew Emily was friends with the NCIS people, but he hadn't realized they were this close. He also began to wonder how these NCIS agents had become much wiser in matters of Emily Prentiss than her BAU team.

Dave nodded. "Okay. But she's going to have to talk about it at some point. It might have relevance to the case."

"I agree," Ziva replied easily. "But perhaps the person she confides in should be someone other than you or Gibbs or even me."

Rossi cocked his head at this. "You have someone in mind?" His own thoughts flashed briefly to Hotch.

Ziva merely smiled serenely at him. "I'm sure Emily will find the right person herself."

* * *

Hotch was examining the pinned up photos of the victims in the case, but his mind was elsewhere. He had sent DiNozzo and Morgan, the latter giving him a look that was part pleading and part annoyance, out to interrogate the photographer. It was a good lead, but Aaron couldn't help but feel that they might be missing something else. He was still lost in thought when the door to the small conference room the BAU had set up shop in opened. Hotch turned to look at Prentiss slipping quietly into the room.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Hotch asked immediately sensing something had troubled his agent.

Emily cursed internally, annoyed that she had not hidden her feelings from Aaron Hotchner's prying eyes. She tried to gather herself together before she answered. "We spoke to the man Commander Hill was dating. His name is Riccardo Rapetti, a cultural attaché to the consulate." At that moment the door opened and Rossi stepped into the room. Hotch saw his friend give Emily a look of concern and then glance around the room, as though he was looking for someone or something. Hotch frowned, puzzled.

"Rapetti," Emily continued in her calm, professional voice. "According to the Vice Counsel, has questionable relationships with women."

"Meaning?" Hotch arched an eyebrow.

"The Vice Counsel couldn't prove anything, but he hinted that it was more than dog in heat type of thing. We also met the guy," Rossi added as he came up next to Emily who involuntarily tensed up just a hair.

"And?" Hotch prodded as he watched his two agents suspiciously, realizing they were withholding something.

"Scumbag," Gibbs replied in a clipped tone as he walked into the room.

"You think he's a potential suspect?" Hotch watched Rossi throw the NCIS agent a questioning look which the other man completely ignored. What was going on?

"If not for this, definitely for something else," was Rossi's grim response. He glanced at Emily which she ignored.

"Okay, someone want to tell me what happened?" Hotch asked in exasperation.

Gibbs and Rossi remained silent, looking over at Emily, something Hotch didn't miss. He took a step towards the woman. "Prentiss?"

Emily licked her lips nervously and shifted slightly on her feet. The men could see her struggling to talk about what happened that afternoon at the Italian Embassy.

"Prentiss, if it could have an impact on the case, we need to hear about it," Hotch continued in a not unkind voice.

Emily felt trapped. She could feel panic building within her. She hadn't had time to gather herself, to shove the contents of some of her deepest, darkest boxes back in and lock them away. The memories were overwhelming and she couldn't find her voice.

"Emily?" Rossi urged her.

She felt cornered, hemmed in as the men seemed to be crowding her, converging on her. A part of her mind, the part that remained rational knew none of the men had moved, but the urge to flee was almost overwhelming. She could feel her chest tightening, breathing was becoming difficult.

"Prentiss," Hotch's voice signaled his impatience at her continued silence, but there was also a flicker of worry there.

"Emily!"

The voice was different, still male, but filled with light and happiness. Everyone turned to look at the newcomer. Dr. Mallard. The Medical Examiner came in carrying a folder and wearing a smile on his face.

"My dear! You haven't been in to see me yet." He wagged his finger in mock chastisement at the woman. "I have a pot of your favorite tea brewing." He examined her face. "And seeing the redness around your nose, I think that my tea will be exactly what you need." He weaved his way between the much taller and younger men and took Emily's arm. "I'm sure these gentlemen won't mind if I steal you away for a few moments, my dear." He turned to hand Hotch the folder. "My report on Commander Hill's autopsy. I'll be sure to have Emily back to you before you're done with that. Come, my dear."

Ducky took Emily's surprised hand, tucked it into the crook of his elbow and led her out of the room as Hotch and Rossi stared after them, dumbfounded. When the door had closed behind the couple, Dave turned to look at Gibbs who returned his gaze.

"That's why you came into the room after me," Rossi stated, realizing the NCIS agent had gone and recruited Dr. Mallard to talk to Emily.

"If she's going to talk to anyone, it'll be Ducky," Gibbs replied. "Everyone talks to Ducky."

"Talk about what?" Hotch said in an exasperated voice. "What is going on? Did something happen to Prentiss at the Embassy?" Concern flooded him. He had sent her to the Embassy because he thought it was the safest place for her given her close resemblance and connection to the victims.

"It seems Emily and Rapetti knew each other years back, likely when the Ambassador was assigned to Italy," Rossi supplied. "I don't think it's a pleasant history they have. She was very rattled when she saw him and you know nothing rattles her."

Gibbs watched with interest as Hotch's face hardened. "What was the word you used to describe him, Agent Gibbs?"

"Scumbag."

"You think he hurt Prentiss back in Italy?" the BAU leader's voice had grown frigid and for the first time, Gibbs felt something other than disdain for the younger man.

"I think the only person she might talk about it to is the person's she's with right now," was Gibbs' answer.


End file.
